This Is Family
by zoey-peace-love
Summary: Olivia is different from her brothers and sister. She shares a connection with every one of them. She has an even better connection with Callie, and a stronger bond with Jude. But, when they first meet Olivia, they didn't even know she existed. As she brings this family together with her love and smiles, Callie and Jude discover how and why she understands them so well.


While the Foster family is enjoying their dinner on a Friday night, there are a couple of knocks at their door. "I wonder who doesn't ring the doorbell these days," says Stef. Lena gets out of her seat at the dinner table and opens the door to a familiar face. "Lena!" this girl exclaims.

"Oh my goodness, hi Olivia!" says Lena, and the girl wraps her arms around her.

"Where's my mom?"

"She's probably in the kitchen. Here, let me take your stuff and you can go see her."

"Thanks!" Olivia yells as she sprints towards the kitchen to find her mom. "Mommy!" she sings like a child.

A large smile forms on Stef's face and she hugs her daughter. Before she can say anything to her, Olivia is asking questions. "Where is everybody? Where's Brandon?"

"Everyone is at the dinner table, love," and then Olivia is running to the dining room.

There are loud footsteps scurrying towards the dinner table and Brandon looks up from his plate just in time to hear, "Da-da-da-da! Olivia is here!" and then he sees his sister, standing proud of her entrance, before everybody's eyes.

Brandon, Jesus, and Mariana jump out of their seats to bring Olivia into a group hug. Callie and Jude share a confused look. "Who are they?" Olivia asks before the two can say the same for her.

"Olivia, this is Callie and Jude. Callie and Jude, this is my blood sister, Olivia," Brandon explains.

"Hi! Welcome to our home!" she smiles.

Callie nods her head at Olivia and Jude smiles. She approaches them with warm hugs. Even though it was a little strange and unfamiliar to her, Callie smiled at her actions. "Are you hungry, Livvy?" Brandon asks.

She looks up to him and smiles. "No, but I am tired," she yawns and stretches out her arms. "Where can I sleep?"

It's Mariana who speaks up. "You can sleep with me in my bed tonight. I've missed you!"

"Okay. I'm going to get ready for bed," she says and she kisses both Moms on their cheeks and hugs Brandon. "Goodnight!" she yells as she disappears up the stairs.

Stef and Lena laugh. "Boy is she full of energy!"

Dinner conversations are simple and short, but smiles are shared all throughout the table. After all the dishes are cleaned, and the leftovers are stored in the fridge, everybody heads upstairs for bed. "No weekend plans?" Stef asks, shocked.

"Not tonight, Mom," says Jesus. "Goodnight!"

Callie wonders about Olivia, and why she'd never heard of her before. Maybe it's because she isn't officially a part of their family. Callie doesn't love this, but shrugs off the thought and waits to ask about Olivia until morning.

Mariana and Callie enter their room to find Olivia lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. "You're awake!" Mariana cheers.

"I figured we should catch up before we sleep."

"Okay. Let me just get ready for bed," Mariana says as she enters the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Olivia gets out of Mariana's bed and sits on Callie's. "Hi," she says.

"Hello."

Olivia looks around Callie's side of Mariana's bedroom. "Uhm, is that Brandon's guitar?"

"Well, it kind of was, but yeah."

"Mhm. I'll be right back."

"Mom's won't be okay with this!" Olivia protests as she enters Brandon's room.

"Well come in," he smiles. "Okay with what?"

"You're feelings for Callie," she says, and he stops shuffling his sheet music to look up at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says, and he starts to shift uncomfortably.

She laughs, "Yeah. Right. You gave her your guitar! You never even let me touch it," she pouts.

He doesn't say anything. She kisses her brother's cheek. "Goodnight," she says flatly.

"Hi again!" Olivia says as she situates herself on the edge of Mariana's bed.

"Olivia, right?"

"Yes ma'am!" Olivia says with a fake salute.

Callie lets out a small laugh. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Olivia."

She smiled and crawled back into bed as Mariana came back in the room. "You have no idea how much I missed my sister," Mariana says.

"Me too! All the girls at," Olivia pauses. "camp were so annoying and boy crazy."

Callie listens to the two girls talk for hours that night about boy, fashion, and places they want to visit. She laughs to herself as she thinks of Olivia as a mini Mariana.

Callie wakes up to the sound of crying at two o'clock in the morning. When she sits up, she notices Olivia kicking and whimpering in her sleep, very similar to what she used to witness with Jude and his nightmares. "Olivia," she calls a few times, but Olivia doesn't wake up, so Callie gets out of bed. She crouches next to Olivia. "Olivia, you're having a nightmare," Callie whispers, and Olivia shoots up awake and starts to sob. "Hey, sh, you're okay," Callie repeats as she embraces Olivia. "You're okay. You're okay."

"Callie?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Callie says. "It's okay. You're okay."

Olivia is still shaking. "Come here," Callie says. Then she gets up and waits for Olivia to come to her bed.

Callie climbs in first and Olivia follows. Callie knows what to do. She cuddles Olivia and whispers reassuring words to her until they both fall asleep.

When Brandon comes into the girl's room to wake them up that same morning, he is surprised to see Olivia being cuddled by Callie in Callie's bed. "Hey everyone, uh, breakfast is ready."

The girls all wake up and stretch themselves out, but Olivia is first to leap out of bed and jog down the stairs with a smile on her face. Brandon says what both he and Mariana were thinking. "Why was my sister in your bed instead of Mariana's?"

Callie laughs, but she doesn't need to think of an answer. "You say it like I was going to steal her in the night. But she was kicking and crying in her sleep – clearly having a nightmare. Mariana slept through it, so I took matters into my own hands and comforted Olivia back to sleep."

Brandon and Mariana share a knowing look, leaving Callie confused. "What?" she says.

"Hi, Jude!" Olivia says as she skips into the kitchen and takes a seat next to him.

"Good morning," he responds with a smile.

"I was wondering," Olivia started, and Jude looked up at her. "Since I have no choice but to go back to school, and I have no friends," she looks down at her hands. "Can I hang out with you and your friends?"

"Of course," Olivia looks up to him and smiles. "But, I really only have one friend. His name is Connor."

"That's perfectly okay! Thank you," she says and kisses his cheek. Jude laughs. "Oh, and by the way," she starts again. "that blue is a good shade of nail polish for you," she says, pointing a finger at his nails.

"Thanks," he says and smiles for the third time since Olivia came down the stairs three minutes ago.

Before breakfast eaten, Lena looks up at Jesus. "Take your medication please, Jesus. You too, Olivia," and they both get up to grab their prescription.

"Uhm, my medication isn't in here," Olivia says.

Lena looks at Jesus and Mariana, but Stef speaks up. "Oh! I'm so sorry, love. I forgot to get you more."

"That's okay! I think I can go a day or two without it."

Breakfast is eaten and finished quickly. By one pm, everybody except Jude and Olivia are out with their own plans.

"What to do you want to do today?" Lena asks, crouching down to the two.

"I haven't been here in a while. How about we have a day on the town?"

"That sounds like fun," Jude says before Lena can respond to the suggestion.

She laughs. "I guess we're having a day on the town! Go get dressed."

The two exchange excited smiles and run up the stairs. Lena pulls out her phone and texts the rest of the family.

_Taking the two youngest out for today._

_Having a "day on the town"_

_Don't be surprised if you come home to an empty house._

_Love you. X_

It takes about ten minutes for the two to be completely ready to go. When Lena gets the car started, Jude and Olivia take seats in the back together. Lena watches them from her rearview mirror. "I feel like there is going to be a very strong bond between the two of you."

Olivia looks at Jude, who is smiling at Lena. "Yeah, me too."

Lena starts of their day by taking them to little boutiques and buying them some clothes, which they both refused at first.

It was sweet how neither of them would pick out a clothing item or accessory without the other's approval. And then once they tried the clothes on, it was like a fashion show for one another.

After shopping at the boutiques, the two walked around town, bags on their arms and pinkies connected. Lena laughed. "You two are so cute." They smiled at each other, and then to Lena.

Lunch time came very quickly, and Lena took them to a café. Her favorite, she might add. Everyone ordered a delicious sandwich and berry smoothies. The food and drinks were devoured quickly by the three of them. "That was tasty, no?" Olivia said.

Lena and Jude nodded in response. "I don't know if there's anything else for us to do. We walked around, window shopped, actually shopped, ate out. What else can we do?" Olivia asked.

Lena looked at the two with a big smile. "We aren't done just yet."

Olivia lifted her eyebrow in confusion and Jude smiled, but he didn't know where they were going either.

The car pulled up to one of the quieter beaches. "Ooh!" Olivia smiled.

"How about we stick our feet in the sand and take some pictures?" Lena turned around to smile at the excited teenagers.

Lena settled them somewhere empty, and they felt like they owned the beach. First, they played that game, where they tried to not get their feet wet when the water rolled in. Then, Olivia and Jude took turns of taking pictures of Lena at the beach, like she was in some sort of photo-shoot. Olivia even picked a flower out from a bush and stuck in Lena's hair, telling her to "work it baby!" After Lena's photo-shoot, it was Jude and Olivia's turn to be the models. She took photos of them posing together and posing alone, also with props they found lying around the beach. Lena's favorite photo was the one of them holding hands and jumping in the air in front of the sun and water. The smiles on their faces were as real as could be, and the sun was just starting to set. "This one is perfect!" she yelled to them. Then she switched her screen saver from 12-year-old Jesus and Mariana on the swings, to 13-year-old Olivia and Jude having a wonderful time at the beach.

**Okay, I really don't know how I feel about this story yet, but even if we all hated it, I would keep it going because I love the connection between Jude and my character, Olivia! I can't wait to hear all of your feedback! Xxx! -Zoey**


End file.
